The Second Archon War: Sapientia Oromasdis 5 (Patreon)

Sapientia Oromasdis 5: The Beginning of Wisdom

School had always been something Nahida had longed to go to with other children. She’d imagined learning about fascinating things with all of the other students, typically by studying primary sources that they unearthed after a long and interesting adventure, then playing games on the playground with the other students. Reality, however, was highly disappointing. For one thing, there was no digging through ancient runes to uncover hidden secrets, or doing fun experiments in the lab to discover new machines.

Instead, there were workbooks.

Bashir had given Nahida a book of worksheets to do with Mrs. Rasab, a kindly widowed woman in her 60s who came and watched Nahida and Qiqi while Doctor Bashir worked at his clinic. Qiqi mostly worked on extremely simple things, like coloring a picture in the lines, matching like objects, identifying basic pictures, and basic life skills like dressing herself or feeding herself without making a mess.

For Nahida, she had a workbook that was slightly advanced for her supposed developmental level. The book had her reading basic words where she had to interpret the short vowels or the indicated long vowel sounds, writing basic words in Arabic, solving math problems with addition and subtraction up to two digits, and memorizing her multiplication tables up to 10. As Nahida had memorized the multiplication table up to 2048 and could do calculus in her head, as well as read any and all scholarly works, this was a bit below her capabilities.

“Well, it’s fairly basic. I was actually wondering if I could look at Doctor Bashir’s medical textbooks?” Nahida asked politely.

“Well, those are the doctors, I’m not really sure if you should…well, I suppose this older one then…”

By the time Doctor Bashir found Nahida, she’d written most of a treatise on the use of Dendro energy to assist with pre-natal care. Most of it was copied from the work of various scholars in the Akademiya whose work had been in the Akasha, but Nahida had added what she knew of modern medical equipment to further refine the care.

Bashir had looked through the early learner workbook, read the treatise that Nahida had typed up on his computer (a laborious process since Nahida’s hands were too small to really touch type properly), and gave Nahida a rueful smile. “I should have known better. You could clearly already read and write. And these annotations… it’s almost like a professional physician wrote this. Where did you learn how to do that?”

“Um, I read your books,” Nahida said, pointing to the ones high up on the shelf. She’d had to float herself up to reach them when Mrs. Rasab wasn’t looking, but they’d been extremely fascinating.

“I see.” Bashir pondered that for a moment, stroking his beard. At last, he gave a rueful laugh. “Well, I suppose the elementary workbooks I got for you might be a touch too easy then. Perhaps one day Qiqi will be able to do them.”

Nahida glanced over at Qiqi, who was currently in time out because she’d kept trying to eat one of her crayons and pitched a royal fit when Mrs. Rasab had told her no. “Someday.”

“I confess, I am slightly at a loss at what to do with you then,” Bashir admitted. “I can’t send you to school with the other children.”

“Why not!? I would listen to the teacher, and be polite, and do all my work, and follow directions!” Nahida protested, but as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she sensed the answer from Bashir as he gave her a pained smile and knelt down next to her. Trembling, her hands reached up, touching her long ears, gripping them in her hands. “It’s… It’s because I’m different…”

“I am sorry, Little Radish,” Bashir said gently, reaching out with his hand to wipe the tears from Nahida’s eyes. “There are laws against Parahumans going to a regular school. While you are a Vision Holder… I fear greatly for what would happen to you if the other parents and students found out about you. And, well, you are frankly too smart to possibly attend school with your same-age peers. This is collegiate-level work you’ve done. You’d have better luck enrolling at the university.”

Nahida bit her lip, expecting Bashir to demand to know her real age or what lies she had told, but she sensed… sympathy? And another emotion, one she had rarely experienced: Love. Not lust, but rather, paternal fondness. It melted her heart and made her want to cry at the same time.

“I’m afraid you’ve more than a hint of Thinker in your power ratings,” Bashir said with a chuckle. “Unfortunately,  while your mind might be ready for high-level academics, socially and emotionally, you’re still five.”

That was hardly fair at all, mostly because Nahida knew what he said was true. She did have the wisdom and experience of a centuries-old spirit of knowledge, but at the same time, she experienced the world with the emotional and social abilities of a young child. Well, perhaps not quite that, but she certainly didn’t act like an adult, as much as she tried to on occasion.

“Well, what can I do then?” Nahida asked plaintively.

“You could work in the garden and… hmm. It’s a new technology, and I never took any online courses myself, but there is the option of taking classes over the internet. The University of Cairo offers courses, and… hmm. How fluent in English are you? Never mind, silly question. You were reading my Oxford Textbook of Medicine, and if you can read that, you can read anything.” Abruptly, Bashir switched to that tongue. “<How about speaking in English?>”

“<I think I can probably speak any language as long as the person I’m talking to knows it,>” Nahida answered honestly in the same language.

“Definitely a Thinker,” Bashir said with a chuckle, ruffling Nahida’s hair. “I know a few professors who would be happy to enroll a young parahuman. Any courses you’d be interested in particularly?”

“Medicine, agriculture, philosophy, and history,” Nahida answered instantly. She was intently curious about every field of study imaginable, but those were the most fascinating to her at the moment.

“A broad range of study,” Bashir said with a raised eyebrow. “Hmm, any way to narrow that down a bit?”

“Hmm, I suppose medicine I could mostly learn from you. Could I help out in the clinic?” Nahida begged.

“I don’t know, I don’t enjoy the thought of using child labor, and some of my patients-” Bashir began, and Nahida had a flash of inspiration.

Remembering the advice Farasha had given her, Nahida made her eyes as big as possible, sniffled slightly, and clasped her hands together. “Please?”

Any attempts at prevarication Bashir had been making immediately melted away. “Well, perhaps with certain patients. You do seem to be able to mimic an MRI, and I don’t have one of those. Plus, it would be good to see just what sort of wounds you can treat.”

“Then I want to take world history, introduction to Philosophy, and modern agriculture!” Nahida said eagerly. “And you can teach me modern medical practices! Oh! I almost forgot! I created a treatment plan for leukemia using Dendro!” Nahida dove into the pile of notes she had, and brought up several pages with neat handwriting on them, handing them to Bashir.

“Hmm, this is… workable. I’ll have to consult with my fellows and the patient to see if they’re willing to try this, but…” Bashir looked up at Nahida and grinned. “I think this will work, Little Radish. I think this is the start of a wonderful partnership.” He extended his hand, and Nahida eagerly shook it, even though his completely enveloped hers. She finally felt like she was making progress, and learning more about this world.

The next day, Nahida stood on a chair in the clinic’s reception room, holding a clipboard. There was a small reception room with a few chairs, and ordinarily, Dr. Bashir would check in his patients himself. Apparently, he’d had trouble finding a secretary when he’d first opened the clinic, largely because Farasha had been one of his first customers, and he’d advertised that his clinic was open to Parahumans, especially children. He’d become used to handling such things on his own, and had never actually found one.

Now, however, Nahida had taken over that. Dr. Bashir was a neat and orderly man, so it hadn’t been terribly hard for her to read up on the various patients. She had agreed to help check them in and keep track of all the documentation and was eagerly waiting for the first of the appointments to arrive.

She glanced at the clock, and bit her lip. That wasn’t for another 45 minutes, but Nahida really wanted to be prepared. Dr. Bashir was out with Imam Tahir, getting morning coffee at a nearby cafe, and would be back in about 20 minutes, while Qiqi was upstairs with Mrs. Rasab.

Just then, she sensed two people approaching quickly, both in a state of panic and one in considerable pain. She hopped off the chair and ran up to the door to open it, surprising a panicked-looking woman carrying a young girl in her arms. The girl’s face was stained with tears, and her left leg was wrapped in a hasty and bloodstained bandage. Nahida could sense that it was a greenstick fracture on her tibia. It wasn’t serious, but it must have been painful.

“Please, is the doctor here?” the mother gasped. Her name was Sajy, and she was twenty eight. This was her oldest daughter, Nadia, and this was the first time any of her children had ever broken a bone. She dreamed of a future for her daughter where she met a kind husband like her own, and could live in a world without fear.

“Please, come in!” Nahida urged, pushing the door open. “Into the first waiting room, there. Set your daughter on the table.”

Sajy nodded frantically, while Nadia fought back tears, sniffling as her mother hustled her inside. Nahida was always impressed by the strength and resilience of humans: Sajy had run more than a kilometer carrying her daughter, a feat that most would have said the slight woman couldn’t have managed, but she’d actually done it in less than 5 minutes.

“It’s going to be alright, Nadia,” Sajy said gently, setting her daughter down as the little girl cried out in pain. She was seven years old, so she looked a little older than Nahida. Unlike Nahida, her hair was loose about her head, and she was wearing shorts and a blouse. She’d been riding her bike, and had taken a bad fall. Nahida filled all that out on the clipboard quickly, deciding that just this once, it wasn’t really rude to peek into someone’s mind; this was a medical emergency, after all.

“Um, Dr. Bashir is out right now, but, um…I-I can help,” Nahida said uncertainly.

Sajy blinked at Nahida in surprise, while Nadia sniffled and hiccuped.

“My name is Nahida,” she said, pulling over a chair to stand on so that she could examine Nadia’s leg. “That’s a lot like your name.”

Nadia managed a small smile and jerked a nod. “A-are you a doctor like your dad?”

“You’re just a little girl,” Sajy said, shaking her head. “We can wait for the doctor, or go to the hospital. I just knew the clinic was nearby, and we’ve seen Dr. Bashir before. It is just a broken leg…”

“But it hurts! I-I want it to not hurt, mommy,” Nadia sniffled.

“I am a little girl,” Nahida said, carefully using “little” in the sense that she was quite small, and not in the sense that she was young, though that was really playing games with the truth. “But, I’m also…”

Nahida drew out the false Vision from under her dress, and held it up.

Sajy gasped and jerked back in horror, but Nadia stopped crying and looked at the Vision curiously. “You… you have powers? Like Ms. Farasha?”

“Not like hers,” Nahida hastily said, which did seem to reassure Sajy slightly. “Parahumans and Vision Holders… we’re different. But my powers… I can help things grow. Including you, Nadia. If your mother will let me.”

“Please, mommy?” Nadia begged, turning to her mother. “It hurts so much…”

The revulsion at the thought of a demon girl warred with the pain her daughter was in, and for a moment, Sajy teetered on the brink. Then she looked at Nahida, who smiled at her shyly, then at her daughter. Swallowing, she nodded. “If you can help… please, do so.”

Nodding, Nahida opened a screen of dendro, scanning the wound. She isolated the break, noting the damage to the surrounding tissue. Using an infusion of dendro, Nahida first dealt with the pain, soothing the torn muscles and ligaments, and quieting the pain receptors. Nadia let out a sigh and relaxed, visibly relieved. Seeing the glow of Nahida’s abilities frightened Sajy, but her daughter’s obvious relief quieted her fears, and she hugged Nadia, stroking her forehead and whispering to her quietly.

Nahida continued to work, forming a sheath of Dendro, and grabbing several seeds that Sajy had picked up on her clothes on her run here. She caused the seeds to rapidly grow, mutating them slightly, and then weaving the fibers into a cast, which she further infused with dendro. Then, gently, Nahida prodded the bone back together, setting everything in place. She encouraged the bone to begin to knit with another infusion, but she didn’t accelerate it too much: healing was much more thorough and safe if the body was allowed to naturally heal on its own at a more natural pace. She could just knit the bone together, but doing so could cause complications. Instead, she strengthened Nadia’s own natural healing ability. This way, the bone would knit cleanly and completely.

All that took only minutes, and Nahida carefully examined the rest of Nadia for any other trauma or injuries. The only thing she found was that one of Nadia’s teeth was coming in slightly crooked, so she gently nudged that back into place. Overall, she was a healthy little girl, with a good home and a happy life. She had plenty of friends at school, and while her teacher was stern and grouchy, they didn’t seem a bad sort from the little Nahida glimpsed.

“There,” Nahida said, smiling happily and dusting off your hands as she let her dendro constructs vanish. “I’ll still want Dr. Bashir to check it, that’s the first broken bone I’ve treated, but you should be alright. You’ll need some crutches, and you’ll want to keep off the leg for six to eight weeks. I’ll book you a follow up appointment based on Dr. Bashir’s recommendations.”

Instead of listening to her, however, both Sajy and Nadia were looking at the cast Nahida had woven with astonishment.

“How did you make it?” Nadia asked, touching one of the flowers blooming on the surface of the green cast, which was woven together from various weeds, moss, and whatever other plants Nahida had been able to grow quickly. It had enough dendro in it to help with the healing for two months, then it would wither and die. A shame, but plants were used as medicine all the time, and Nahida didn’t feel too badly about it. Besides, it did look pretty.

“Where did it come from?” Sajy asked.

“Um, well, I can control dendro,” Nahida said, holding up her vision as if that explained things. Another lie, but not too terrible of one, since Nahida was somehow responsible for Dendro Visions, even if she wasn’t completely sure how. “That’s the elemental energy of life, especially plants. I used some seeds to grow a cast for you. There’s a little Dendro in there too. Not too much! Just enough to keep the cast healthy, ease the pain, and keep your tissues healthy. Your muscles won’t atrophy as badly as they would with a normal cast too, I think.”

“Cool!” Nadia said, grinning and showing off her missing lower front teeth. She probably wouldn’t need braces now, though from what Nahida could tell, orthodontics wasn’t very advanced in Iraq, with the wealthy flying to the USA or Europe for dental care.

“Thank you,” Sajy said, standing and giving Nahida a hug, tears in her eyes. “For taking such good care of my daughter.”

Nahida blushed, but the hug was nice, so she just accepted it. Really, she’d gotten more hugs in the last two weeks than she had in 500 years. That probably meant she needed a lot more to make up for lost time.

“How much do I owe you?” Sajy asked, and Nahida sensed her consternation. Her family wasn’t poor, but she and her husband had four children, in addition to caring for Sajy’s elderly mother-in-law.

“Um,” Nahida glanced at her clipboard. “Thirty-five dinar.”

“Really?” Sajy blinked. “So little? That’s less than a regular doctor’s visit.”

“Well, I’m not actually a doctor,” Nahida said, blushing and looking down. Thirty-five dinar happened to be the amount of money that Sajy had on her, and it was an amount she could afford to spend and not fret about.

“Well, we should wait for the doctor then,” Sajy said, smiling at Nahida. She clearly thought this was a case of a little girl not knowing the value of money. This wasn’t the case, as Nahida had been reading the morning paper Dr. Bashir brought home most days, and was well aware of Iraq's current economic conditions, and the exchange rate of the dinar.

For the next few minutes, Nahida and Nadia chatted and laughed. As they did so, Nahida heard a tinkling sound and looked to the window that stood over the garden. Nadia did the same, and gasped in delight. “Djinn! Look, momma, djinn!”

Glancing at the window, Sajy didn’t see the three little aranara clustered there, peering in at the children. They ducked down and hid anyway when she did, aranara being very shy by nature, but that just made Nadia and Nahida giggle in delight. “I see you girls are already playing games and having fun.”

“No, momma, there really were djinn!” Nadia insisted, which earned her a “that’s nice dear” from her clearly exhausted mother.

A short while later, Dr. Bashir strolled into the clinic with his paper and cup of coffee, pausing when he heard the giggles of two little girls. “Nahida? Is someone here already?”

“We’re in here, Dr. Bashir!” Nahida called. “Um, there was a walk-in.”

Stepping into the room, Bashir looked around, taking a moment to digest what he saw. He nodded to Sajy, murmuring, “Mrs. Radi. And… hmm, Nada? No…”

“Nadia!” the little girl said happily. “I didn’t know you had a daughter, Doctor Bashir!”

“Ah, Nahida is a recent arrival,” Doctor Bashir said, coming over and taking the clipboard from Nahida. He scanned it briefly, taking a long drink from his coffee. “Greenstick fracture? You treated it already?”

“Um, yes, but I thought you’d want to take a look yourself,” Nahida said.

Bashir nodded, setting his cup aside, and gently taking Nadia’s leg in his hands. He prodded it with his fingers, feeling the bone. “This will hurt a little I’m afraid.”

Nadia winced, but Bashir was quick and professional and set the leg back down. “Hmm, quite the flexible cast. Will it keep the leg immobilized properly?”

“Yes, I haven’t stiffened it up yet,” Nahida explained.

Pursing his lips, Bashir looked at Sajy, as if weighing something. “Abdul still works at the Ministry of Commerce?”

“Yes, he says he’ll be promoted soon, which is good,” Sajy said, smiling at Bashir.

“Hmm. Well, I don’t recommend an x-ray, and Nahida probably did one herself, didn’t she?” Bashir said, turning to peer at Nahida. She nodded, and he turned back to Sajy. “The bone is set properly. Nadia is young and healthy. Make sure she drinks extra milk and eats extra green leafy vegetables, almonds too if she likes them.’

“I do! Especially with chocolate!” Nadia chimed in.

“Good, good. Those have lots of calcium, which will promote bone growth. But this was set as well as I could do myself, better perhaps,” Bashir said with a nod.

“I will. Ah, there is the manner of the fee though,” Sajy said, glancing at Nahida.

“Oh?” Bashir looked back to Nahida, raising one eyebrow. “What did you tell her?”

“Thirty-five dinar,” Nahida admitted, looking down and blushing.

“Sounds fair to me,” Bashir agreed. “She did the treatment, after all.”

Sajy broke down crying again, babbling her thanks, and hastily gave the money to Bashir, who then handed it over to Nahida to her surprise.

“I… I’ll make some crutches!” Nahida said hastily and ran outside. She plucked two twigs from a bush, then ran back inside, measuring Nadia’s frame. She grew the twigs into perfect crutches, adding a bit of padding to make them more comfortable by growing cotton like fluff, then binding it down with leaves. “Here!”

Sajy gaped open mouthed, but Nadia took the crutches easily enough, managing to hobble around with them. “Thank you! Do I really have to use these for a month?”

“Come back in two weeks, and Nahida can do a check-up then,” Bashir said. “Why don’t you two go walk around in the garden to get used to the crutches, and I’ll talk with Mrs. Radi for a bit,” Bashir said, smiling at both the girls.

They both went outside, Nadia adapting with the speed that young children did to the new arrangement and hurrying after Nahida with a clack-clack of the wooden crutches. “Let’s look for the djinn!”

“They’re called aranara,” Nahida whispered. “They like singing. If you sing to them, they’ll come to you.”

“Hey pomegranate, hey pomegranate!” Nadia sang, and Nahida joined in, having heard this song in the dreams of many children already. By the time they finished the short silly song, several aranara were peeking out from behind the bushes and flowers in the garden.

“Nara Sarva! What has hurt the singing nara?” the bravest of the aranara asked, stepping forward. She was a small female aranara, with a long green pointed cap, with feathery growths on the end. She toddled forward, blinking up at Nadia.

“I fell off my bike,” Nadia explained, peering curiously down at the aranara. “Are you really djinn?”

“Hmm, what is djinn? I am Arana of the Aranara,” the little nature spirit said, cocking her head to one side.

“Djinn are spirits. Some are good, some are bad. You seem like good djinn though, who follow the teachings of the Prophet,” Nadia said.

“Yes! We are good aranara!” Arana agreed. “We listen to the trees, and the dreams of good nara.”

“Can you show yourself to my mom?! She’s a good, um, nara too!” Nadia said eagerly.

The aranara all quailed at that, with some of the others hiding. Arana looked around nervously, and shook her head. When she spoke, her tone was mournful. “No. Big nara have lost the dreams. They cannot see aranara anymore. Big nara are scary. They would try to take away aranara.”

“Not my mom! She’s a good nara!” Nadia cried. “What about my brothers and sister? Could they see you?”

“Hmm,” Arana looked to Nahida.

“Do you have a garden?” Nahida asked Nadia.

She nodded hastily. “Yes! My grandma helps me take care of it. We have a date palm, and two pomegranate trees, and lots of flowers, and some vegetables! She grows the best vegetables.”

“Then perhaps, the aranara can come to visit you soon,” Nahida said, smiling down at the little faeries. “I’ll show you the way to Nadia’s dreams tonight, if you’d like.”

“Yes! It would be good to meet more good nara,” Arana agreed. Then, she looked around, obviously hearing approaching footsteps, and hastily hid back in the garden, vanishing with the other aranara.

“Nahida? Nadia? Who are you girls talking to?” Dr. Bashir asked as he and Sajy rounded the corner.

“No one!” both girls said hastily.

“We were playing,” Nadia added. “Pretend! Um, you know.”

“We were dreaming of a wonderful garden, with lots of good fruit and vegetables to eat, so we could grow big and strong!” Nahida agreed, dearly wishing she too could grow up like  Nadia would one day soon. Indeed, she could feel Nadia growing even now. Terribly fast, by some standards, though not as fast as a young flower could.

“It is a lovely garden. You must take good care of it,” Sajy said, smiling at Nahida and kneeling down to give her another hug.

“Qiqi helps,” Nahida said, returning the hug. She glanced shyly at Nadia. “You… you could come back some time, and play…”

“Can I, mom? Please?” Nadia begged.

“Of course,” Nadia agreed. “As long as Dr. Bashir says it’s alright.” The turned to the doctor, looking a bit worried. “Your, ah, other daughter… it would be safe for her to play…?”

“Yes, though Qiqi is… special,” Bashir said with a smile that hid the pain. “She’s about Nahida’s age, but… I’m afraid she was not treated well before I adopted her. She’s…a late bloomer.”

“Oh!” Sajy looked horrified at that. “Well, I can bring my younger daughter as well, she’s three, but maybe they could play together?”

“That would be,” Bashir had to fight back his emotions, but he nodded. “Yes.”

“Well, I’ll have Abdul call you then. Come, Nadia, you’re late for school already.”

“But mom! I broke my leg! Don’t I get to stay home and rest?” Nadia whined.

“You should go to school. I wish I could,” Nahida said with a heavy sigh.

“Huh? Why not?” Nadia asked, now sounding slightly horrified. “It’s fun most of the time.”

“I…” Nahida swallowed, then reached up, pulling off her headwrap, revealing her ears. Sajy let out a gasp of shock, but Nadia just looked curious.

“What happened to your ears?” she asked, reaching out a hand to touch one.

“Nadia! Don’t be rude!” her mother gasped.

“It’s OK,” Nahida said, turning her head to let Nadia touch her ear. “They’ve always been like this.”

“Nahida is,” Bashir cleared his throat. “Well, ah, she might be the first dual parahuman and Vision Holder. The physiological changes can be…well, they’re not dangerous, just striking.”

Again, a war played out on Sajy’s face and in her heart, and Nahida tensed up. Then Sajy gave her a gentle smile, deciding something. “Well. I think she’s still quite cute.”

Nahida burst into tears, to Nadia’s horror, and Bashir picked her up, hugging her tightly.

“I think that’s enough doctoring for the day. I’ll look forward to seeing you soon, Nadia. Remember, stay off your leg as much as possible.”

“Goodbye, Nahida!” Nadia called, trying to wave and nearly falling. “Thank you for fixing my leg! And introducing me to the you-know-whats!”

Bashir took Nahida back upstairs as she rested her head on his shoulder. “That was very brave of you. And very kind.”

“I was scared,” Nahida admitted. “What if they’d screamed and run away?”

“Has that happened to you before?” Bashir asked gently as they reached the top of the stairs where the living quarters were.

“No,” Nahida said quietly, thinking of a lonely sanctuary far away. “It was worse.”

Bashir just hugged her, then set her down and told Mrs. Rasab that Nahida needed to rest for a bit, then went down to see his patients.

Nahida did rest, mulling over what she’d done. It was the first time she’d really gotten to use her abilities to help someone. She’d occasionally helped people before in secret, but this time, she’d been seen to do it, and she hadn’t been hated or mocked. True, it wasn’t as wonderful as what Greater Lord Rukkhadevata could have managed, but still.

In some small way, she felt like a real Archon for the first time, perhaps ever. Caring for her people, even if just one little girl.

Two days later, Farasha returned.

As soon as Farasha breezed into the clinic in the middle of the afternoon, Nahida could smell her. The aura of death and despair on her was more potent than ever, so overwhelming that Nahida couldn’t even really process the cheery greeting. She had to force herself to focus on Farasha’s words, her heart hammering in her ears.

“-favorite Little Radish doing? Nahida? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Farasha asked, frowning down at Nahida. She was holding a bag in her hands, which was bulging with something, but the pain that was hiding behind Farasha’s grin was too much for Nahida to bear.

Reflexively, Nahida reached out to Farasha, not with her physical body, but with her spirit. As she did so, she tapped into not just Farasha’s being, but the Demon that was leeching off of her soul, voracious and malevolent.

Images flashed through Nahida’s mind. Of Farasha in the mountains, of a village, of fighting. Of a swarm of butterflies, hungrily consuming villagers and… another demon? And an Anemo Vision Holder, fighting Farasha. The demons… wanted this? They wanted to fight one another, or rather, have their human hosts do so. But even more, the demons hungered to fight Vision Holders to…’

You seek Wisdom? Nahida mentally gasped, horrified.

DATA. SIMULATE. PROCESS. EVOLVE. CYCLE.

The voice of the demon was a cacophony, a chorus of unharmonic voices. It wasn’t even truly alive, more like a virus than a thinking, feeling being.

“LEAVE HER ALONE!” Nahida screamed and sent a blast of pure life force, containing a great deal of her own knowledge at the demon. It howled in pain, but loosened its hold on Farasha’s soul.

Then Nahida came back to herself. She was floating in the air, surrounded by a protective bubble, scripts and runes from the Akasha running through the air around her as she attempted to safeguard herself and understand the demon. Farasha was on her hands and knees on the floor, a cake and cookies splattered around her. She was dry retching, her body wracked with fever and muscle spasms.

“Nahida!? Farasha! Back away from her, now!” Bashir ran into the room from where he had been seeing one of his patients just as Nahida’s bubble popped, and she fell to the floor. Bashir grabbed her, spinning around and hurling her towards the back door. “OUT! Now! Get out! Everyone leave! Immediately!”

The young boy and his father who had been in the waiting room peered out, saw Farasha gasping for breath on the floor, and instantly stampeded towards the exit, faces pale and hearts pounding, fear filling their minds.

Nahida looked up from where she had fallen, tears in her eyes. “But-”

Bashir turned towards her, fury, fear, and his own naked pain on his face. “What have you done!? FLEE! Get Qiqi and go, go to the mosque until I call for you!”

Then he turned to Farasha, extending a trembling hand. “Hutah? Please, let me help you, I can-”

She smacked his hand away with her own, staggering to her feet. Her eyes were…brown. Instead of red, they were brown, and wide with shock and pain. “I don’t… don’t touch me. What… what happened to…”

“Nahida, NOW!” Bashir barked, and she turned and fled, tears in her eyes as she sensed Bashir’s panic. He was afraid, deeply afraid, for himself, for Farasha, and even Nahida. But he would stay, even though he thought he was only moments from death. She hurried outside, horror filling her. What had she done?

“Qiqi? Qiqi, where are you going?!” Mrs. Rasab’s voice called from above.

“Please, cold nara! You have to go! Quickly, quickly!” the voice of Arana urged as she hovered in the air, Qiqi following after her. “It is not safe for little nara now.”

“Qiqi, Mrs. Rasab, Farasha is sick! We’re supposed to go to the mosque!” Nahida called, running up the stairs to grab Qiqi’s hand, then pulling her down. They ran all the way to the Mosque, Mrs. Rasab hurrying after. It wasn’t time for noon prayers, and they found Imam Tahir in his office.

“Mrs. Rasab? Nahida? What is-”

“Something is wrong with Farasha!” Nahida babbled. “She… she came back, and she was hurting so much inside, and then I tried to help, but she got hurt more and Dr. Bashir told us to leave, I’m sorry! I was trying to be good!”

Hearing that, the Imam’s face went pale, and he hastily motioned them inside. “Quickly, in here.” He looked about, then slammed the door behind them, going over and shutting a window as well.

“What… what do we do?” Mrs. Rasab asked, sounding overwhelmed and feeling dread, mostly for the two girls and Dr. Bashir.

“We pray. Pray that Allah shows mercy to Saeed, and poor Hutah as well,” Tahir said, then got down on his knees, touching his head to the floor and beginning a prayer.

Nahida did the same, and for the first time since coming to this world, she reached out, desperately seeking someone, anyone, who could answer her.

At first, she sensed only that distant presence that she had taken to be Allah. But then, something closer.

And to her horror, Nahida heard her first missive from the god of this world:

DO NOT INTERFERE IN THE CYCLE.

Author’s Note:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. - Proverbs 9:10